Great cruise on Ventura
Ventura Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 8
Spain Portugal And Canary Islands
Sail date: August 05, 2023
Ship: Ventura
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
We had a great time! We had read a few bad reviews of Ventura but other than the small TVs I’m not sure what there was to find fault with. It was very busy on the outer decks but the Retreat was a godsend.Embarkation
We had a late embarkation time. It was busy but the process was straightforward.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The standard of the food was good. The portions weren’t enormous but we liked that.
We used the main dining rooms, Cinnamon and Saffron restaurants and also some of the specialty restaurants, The Beach House, Sindhu and The Epicurean.
Having some of the food in the Epicurean prepared at the table was quite an experience, the crepes Suzette were lovely.
We did find after 10 days or so that the menu in the main dining room seemed quite samey so we ate elsewhere that night.
Onboard Activities
The outside decks and main pool areas were extremely busy. We tried to avoid them as much as possible.
We used the adult only pool which was
quieter and we booked The Retreat which was the highlight of the onboard part of the cruise for us.
My husband used the gym on one of the sea days, said it was fairly busy but had a good choice of equipment.
Entertainment
We didn’t go to the theatre every night but all the acts that we saw were good.
Tom Ball was fantastic, he had an incredible voice and he’s a really nice man, we chatted to him one day.
The Privateers sang sea shanties etc and they we’re very entertaining, we saw them in the theatre and again in the Havana Club.
We also saw magician Phil Hitchcock who was very clever and The Astonishing show written by Stephen Mulhern. The Headliners group isn’t really our thing but their Musicals show was good.
We went to the virtual bridge tour in the Havana Club, that was very informative and houmorous.
Service and Staff
Our room steward was fantastic, very friendly and helpful.
The staff in The Retreat were great too.
The staff in the specialty restaurants were all friendly and welcoming as were the front of house staff in the main dining rooms. Even though we were freedom dining the Maitre d’ in Cinnamon remembered us whenever we ate there.
The majority of the waiting staff were friendly and helpful but we did have one miserable waiter, bordering on rude, on the first night’s dinner time. Fortunately that was a one off!
Ship Quality
The ship seemed well looked after and clean but it did seem a bit tired in places.
It’s only the second cruise ship we’ve been on and at first we didn’t find it as easy to find our way around as it was on Iona last year. We got our bearings eventually though.
It was nice to have an outside promenade deck but there was quite a large smoking area on it which put us off doing laps of the deck as the smoke affected my chest.
Cabin / Stateroom
Our cabin was clean, comfortable and spacious.
The furniture and decor was quite outdated and I know the small TV’s are an issue for some people, we only used the tv for the navigation screen so it didn’t bother us.
The bed was very comfortable and it was handy to have bedside units with drawers.
There was plenty of storage with the walk in wardrobe and cupboard with shelves.
The bathroom was small but had everything we needed. The shower head was a little low for my husband who is 6ft tall.
Ship tip
Deck C standard balcony cabins have bigger balconies than other decks.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
We didn’t look around the port in Lanzarote, we went on an excursion to the town of Teguise and then Jameos del Agua which is a garden in a volcanic tunnel.
Both stops were very different but both were very good.
We visited the sand dunes at Maspalomas and then went to Puerto Mogán which we really enjoyed. We would happily go there for a week’s holiday.
Later in the afternoon we walked to the beach in Las Palmas and wandered down the promenade
The 5 stars is for the excursion
In the morning we took an excursion to Benfica football stadium. My husband really enjoyed it!
On the way back the coach dropped us in the centre of the city (you could get the coach back to the ship if you preferred) we had a nice lunch out and then explored while heading back in the direction of the ship.
The port itself was nothing special but we did the Mount Teide national park excursion which was great, very interesting.
We did go for a wander in town later in the afternoon.
A nice port to wander around. We explored the town in the morning and then did an excursion in the afternoon.
Disembarkation
An easy process, we had an early breakfast then collected our belongings from the cabin and waited in our designated area until it was time to leave.
We found 2 of our 3 cases quickly but had to hunt for the 3rd
Traveler Photos
